BRANDON, FL – Rubicon Publishing reports great success with an innovative approach to improving the literacy skills of young readers across North America. With the goal of engaging the growing population of struggling and reluctant readers who are turned off by the dense textbooks typically found in classrooms, Rubicon recruited an eclectic group of more than one hundred experts in areas that are most important to young people, and turned them into educational authors.

The diverse group includes a snowboard instructor, a rock star, a crime writer, a firefighter, and an all-star basketball player among many others – each of whom was paired with a seasoned literacy educator to create a literacy resource that achieves the rare feat of being relevant to both student and teacher. The award-winning BOLDPRINT series, the result of these unique collaborations, has been used in classrooms across North America.

Most recently, a classroom of grade 9 students from Brandon High School participated in a three-month long pilot project involving the exclusive use of BOLDPRINT books in the classroom. In post-pilot interviews, the students reported a more positive attitude towards reading, and showed a dramatic increase in their enthusiasm for the previously daunting task.
 
“The students do not miss using the other materials. They are motivated, and so am I,” reported Lawaun Wiseman, the teacher involved in the pilot. “The students can definitely connect to the text and therefore make predictions. The asking of questions is on the tip of their tongues and the pictures alone activate prior knowledge.”

“It’s about bringing the outside world into schools,” explains David Booth, a renowned educator and professor emeritus in the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Department at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).  “We want to meet kids where they are, start with something relevant in their lives, and build a love of reading and literacy upon that foundation.”

In appreciation for their participation in the pilot, each student received a BOLDPRINT book autographed by Florida-born NBA player, Joey Graham. Graham, along with his fellow basketball stars, is part of the NBA’s Read to Achieve program that actively promotes the value of reading among young people throughout North America.

BOLDPRINT (www.boldprintbooks.com) currently has 108 titles for grades 4-12. It is available in English, French and Spanish, with accompanying instructional support. The junior version, BOLDPRINT Kids (www.boldprintkids.com), targets younger readers in kindergarten to grade 3.